Organ shortage is a major cause of delayed liver transplantation and increased waitlist time. The level of donor steatosis is a significant determinant in organ selection. Scarcity of organs has led some programs to expand their acceptable criteria for the percentage of steatosis. We report two cases of liver transplantation of steatotic donor organs that resulted in mortality within hours from transplantation. Postmortem analysis showed evidence of diffuse pulmonary fat microemboli likely originating from the donor organ, with marked preservation reperfusion injury. The mechanism of diffuse fat microemboli in this setting and possible relationship to other perioperative syndromes (transfusion-related lung injury, acute kidney injury, and postreperfusion syndrome) is discussed.
Keywords: anesthesia/pain management; donors and donation: extended criteria; ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI); liver allograft function/dysfunction; liver transplantation/hepatology; pathology/histopathology; risk assessment/risk stratification; transfusion.
© 2019 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.